Among my stillness was a pounding heart.

Some rumors said she was a demon from another world. Other rumors said she was death incarnate, someone to remind us of our misdeeds. But no one had said how beautiful she was. No one had mentioned her eyes. The ones that showed color only for a second. A hint of beauty in absolute blackness.

Remember how far you’ve come, and you won’t have to rely on a destiny for your future. It will come on your own.

Love was a lot more complicated when you had a lot of time on your hands.

All love is immortal.

A heroic act is not always followed by glory and parades and forever freedom,” she said. “It’s often small, disregarded, or forgotten. But it matters.

Sometimes we hurt the ones we love, but hurting ourselves to avoid it doesn’t make it better.

I found him between a reality and a nightmare.

One moment of true happiness was worth all the moments of pain. (Jessica)

Fate was a reality, but it wasn’t a beautiful or angelic thing. It was a heart-wrenching nightmare. And we’d fallen blindly into it. We had no escape. It was happening, and it was up to me to guarantee our survival of it. (Eric)

I wasn’t sure what was worse: being oblivious or living within reality. (Eric)

Don’t trust anybody else—no matter how close you are to them.” (Eric)

I wanted to protect her, and, if I couldn’t do that, I’d at least be there for her. (Eric)

My insanity begged for a distraction. (Eric)

I wasn’t in the mood for a fight, but fights weren’t always conveniently scheduled. (Jessica)

Everything seemed so unreal—so supernatural—and I had to remind myself that is was. We weren’t human. We never were. (Jessica)

I’d prefer you accuse my son, so he can defend his innocence rather than prolong unnecessary guilt." (Spoken by Bracke, told by Eric)

Identity was everything, but it seemed I never had one. (Jessica)

Just because I wasn’t human, didn’t mean I could discount human life. (Eric)

Shadows could be anywhere in blackness. (Eric)

Her kiss could kill us, and my consent signed our death certificates, selfishly and without control. (Eric)

I wanted to survive—not for my kind, but for trust, for friendship, for another being. (Eric)

I didn’t even have a name for her, shade or human, but I didn’t need one to know her. (Eric)

...it’s my job to lead you to success, and, if you fail, it’s because I failed, not you.’” (Spoken by Bracke, told by Eric)

Anyone could be anybody. (Eric)

Neither of us asked to be born descendants, yet I’d be rewarded with his death, and we couldn’t prevent that. No one could. (Eric)

I knew nothing of death, and, for some unexplainable reason, I was beginning to feel guilty for that. -Jessica

What fueled this hatred? Society.

Someone who doesn’t know if tomorrow will come would rather live every day twice than live it once.

My life wasn’t horrible, but I didn’t see any passionate reason to love it.

It's not the best life in the world, but it's all I know.

Fate was tricky like that. It consumed us when we thought we were free, and it freed us when we thought we were captured.

Chaos within destiny. It was the definition of our love.

I was falling in love with her, and she was falling in love with me. It was fated, decided before any of us were born, and I hated it as much as I loved it. I could barely stand it. (Eric)

I can’t take back the past, but I can fight for the future.

Tomorrow can take me,” he said. “I don’t need today anyway.

I’m not mad. I already told you that. We all have mistakes in our past...and our future. It’s a fact of life.

War?' The word held too much definition for three letters.

Sometimes, people meant it when they smiled. Other times, they smiled because they wanted to mean it.

...the truth was more powerful than a lie could ever be (Eric)

I wouldn’t be who I am today if it wasn’t for the people I had met and the people I had lost.

I thought of all the hardships and people that I had lost in the past few days alone, but, most of all, I thought of how I didn't regret any of it.

He was acting like our kiss had broken him, and his reaction was breaking me.

She was always daydreaming. She never wanted to live in the real world; she always seemed to be separated from other children her age. They couldn’t understand her or her imagination. She was always thinking outside of the box, breaking rules, and only following what her heart told her was right.

We had grown into one another somewhere along the way. We were officially a team.

War makes animals of men, and we can't let that happen to us. If we do, we won't have any chance of survival.

Her kiss was a good-bye and a promise and a dream.

But this girl—She reminded me of what it was like to believe in something. Her hope was naïve, but it was real, and I hadn’t felt something real in years. Nothing positive anyways. (Eric)

I leaned against the desk, ran my hand over my father’s paperwork, and picked up a pen. Turning around, I shoved it into my father’s hand. "What’s this?" he asked, raising a brow. "You’ll need it to sign my death certificate," I said, pain vibrating my veins against my muscles and bones. "Are we done now?” (Eric)

His resonating stare fluttered through my memory, and I shivered. I hadn’t seen kindness in his pupils. I only saw intensity, and, I hated to admit it, but he was beyond intimidating. He was overwhelming. (Jessica)

Luthicer hummed. "You're either brave or very foolish." "What's the difference?" (Eric)

It was almost painful to be different.

I couldn’t help but feel as if everyone had lied about everything. We all had secrets. We all had a dark side to our innocent cover. I wondered what we would be like, if we had been completely honest with each other in the first place. Maybe more people would be alive, but then again, more people could be dead.

He's been through so much and to watch that boy suffer makes me wish this world wasn't so cruel.

The closer he was the less confident I was.

I don’t believe that," I said, and he raised his brow beneath his shaggy hair. "I never asked you to.” (Jessica)

When I first met him, he was everything I wanted to be, but over time, he showed me how I wanted to be myself, and that was how I fell in love with him.

His entire presence was like gravity, impossible to forget, possible to believe in, a theory merged into a law.

His hands fell to my hips, and his fingers dug through my rain-drenched clothes.

Instead of a criminal or a drug addict, I was looking at a boy—just a boy.

I live within my daydreams and nightmares; through that, I have learned to create, and I never cease from doing so.

Those are the bad guys, right?”“Depends on who wins, I guess.

Sometimes an outside perspective is the clearer perspective.

I saw something I could never forget. I saw lifetimes of acknowledgement, fear, wisdom, questioning, and understanding in a child's eye. It was the worst thing I would ever witness.

Sometimes, lies were the same things as wishes. Sometimes, wishes were things to hate.

Until they feel what we feel, they will never fully understand the own hell they caused.

Watching them was like watching the sunset and the sunrise, equally beautiful in different ways.

I wanted to punch him and understand him at the same time.

She affected me, even when she was absent.

Damn the way he had control over me.

I knew why love was always described with eternity. A single minute stretched out for lifetimes.

Love crosses the sky on a peculiar disturbing night.

The rules of life are nothing that cannot be fixed.

The rebel inside of me always ignored the rules.

Being a child sucked. Being a teenager was worse. And being an adult seemed so far away that I had a better chance at swimming the length of the ocean than growing up.

I was a person full of wishes but without a star.

Bad bloods aren't born evil or dangerous. We are taught to be, but only because we have to if we want to survive.

The fantasized kiss was stolen time from the dreams…

I’m assuming you have a reason behind this irrational need to conform to this institution." (Eric)

No one wanted to die with secrets in their grave.

Differences disappear when faced with death.

The feeling of death is not as peaceful as they make it sound in movies and books. It was frightening and empty...I never want to feel it again.

You can't make the world perfect, Daniel," Michelle said calmly while dusting dirt off her jeans with her delicate hand. "No. I can't," I agreed. "But I can sure help make it better.

Why do they hate us?" He paused. "We didn't do anything wrong.

I would only blame myself if something happened to you.

I'm just helping someone who is unfortunate. Is that a crime?

I liked this rich lifestyle, but I loved the poor lifestyle better. The less money people had, the less greedy they seemed to be. The people who lived around our flocks seemed to always love everyone around them. Even though they aren’t always happy and can’t always afford the bills, they are still glad to be alive.

Harmony would only come with destruction.

She was strong and stubborn but loving. She was an untouchable angel with a devil’s mark. She was beautiful.

The comfort was peculiarly chilling.

It’s going to be okay, Eric," Urte said, helping me sit up. I shook my head. "Lying is my forte, Urte, not yours.” (Eric.)

With the smell so close, the ocean came into view only a few moments later, sometimes peeking between old brick buildings with bright blue eyes, other times peering for a lingering moment like long lost relatives seeing one another for the first time.

She used to tell me that a full moon was when mysterious things happen and wishes come true.

The dark, twisting clouds that had settled over Vendona’s streets seemed to open up and glide past the winking moon. The wind moaned slowly as it died while the trees began dancing with a melody only known to nature. The city became alive, and time raced forward as the sky warmed slightly. It was no longer snowing.

When everything was right, something was bound to go wrong. (Jessica)

I was born into chaos. I didn’t know what peace felt like.

Tell me, how do get away from your own self?” she questioned. I knew what she meant with a sickening realization. They knew what I was. Somehow, they had found out my only secret.

Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I’ll wake up with sweat drenching my chest and think it’s the blood and muck I was covered in that night.

I remembered every moment between us, and every moment felt more precious as time passed.

Every monster could be saved.